The StorytellerClass 9 English Chapter 4 Notes – Maharashtra Board

Summary: The Storyteller

On a hot afternoon, an aunt is travelling by train with three children — two small girls and a little boy, Cyril. A bachelor, a stranger, sits in the same compartment. The children keep asking 'Why?' and the aunt keeps saying 'Don't'.

Cyril beats the dusty cushions and asks endless questions about sheep and grass that the aunt cannot answer. The smaller girl repeats one line of a poem again and again. The bachelor is clearly annoyed.

The aunt tells a dull story about a good little girl who is saved from a mad bull because everyone admires her goodness. The children call it stupid. When the bachelor remarks that she is not a good storyteller, she challenges him to try.

The bachelor tells of Bertha, a girl who is 'horribly good' and wears three medals for obedience, punctuality and good behaviour. As a reward the Prince lets her walk in his park, which has animals but no flowers. A wolf comes; Bertha hides in thick, sweet-smelling myrtle bushes, and the wolf cannot find her — until her trembling makes the medals clink. The wolf drags her out and eats her.

The children love the story, but the aunt calls it improper. The bachelor replies that at least he held their attention for ten minutes — more than she ever did. As he leaves, he smiles to think the children will pester her for improper stories for months.

Key points to remember

• Author: H. H. Munro, who wrote under the pen name Saki
• Setting: a hot, stuffy railway carriage; the next stop, Templecombe, is nearly an hour away
• Characters: the aunt, the bachelor, Cyril, the bigger girl and the smaller girl; in the inner story, Bertha, the Prince and the wolf
• The aunt's remarks begin with 'Don't'; the children's with 'Why?'
• The aunt's story is dull and moral; the children reject it
• The bachelor's story about Bertha has a surprising, unhappy ending
• Bertha's three medals: obedience, punctuality and good behaviour (good conduct)
• The Prince's park had animals but no flowers — the animals had eaten them
• The myrtle's strong scent hid Bertha; the clinking medals gave her away
• Irony: the medals for goodness cause her death
• It is a 'story within a story' (frame story)
• Message: children prefer honest, imaginative stories to preachy moral ones; pride in one's goodness can be a weakness

The Storyteller – Notes

1. Part I — the journey and the aunt's story

• The compartment is hot and the children are bored. The bachelor watches silently from his corner.
• Cyril smacks the seat cushions, raising dust. Taken to the window, he asks why sheep are being moved to another field when there is lots of grass in theirs. The aunt gives weak answers and tries to distract him with cows.
• The smaller girl keeps reciting only the first line of 'On the Road to Mandalay', which irritates the bachelor.
• The aunt's story is about a good girl rescued from a mad bull by people who admired her. The bigger girl asks whether they would have saved her if she were not good — the very question the bachelor wanted to ask.
• The children call the story stupid. The bachelor says the aunt is not a successful storyteller; she angrily invites him to do better.

2. Part II — the bachelor's story of Bertha

• Bertha always obeyed, told the truth, kept clean and learnt her lessons — she was 'horribly good'. The odd phrase at once catches the children's interest.
• She wore three clinking medals. No other child in town had three, so everyone thought her extra good.
• The Prince allowed her to walk once a week in his beautiful park, where children were never allowed. It had ponds of coloured fish, clever parrots and humming birds, but no flowers, as the Prince chose animals over flowers.
• A huge wolf came hunting. Bertha's spotless white pinafore was seen from far away. She ran and hid in a thick myrtle bush; its strong scent stopped the wolf from smelling her.
• As the wolf was leaving, Bertha trembled and her medals clinked. The wolf heard them, dragged her out and ate her. Nothing remained but her shoes, scraps of her clothes and the three medals.

3. Characters

• The aunt — well-meaning but dull; she gives foolish answers, tells boring moral stories and cannot control the children. She is quick to feel offended.
• The bachelor — quiet, sharp and clever; he understands what children enjoy and wins their attention with an unusual, honest story. He also enjoys teasing the aunt.
• Cyril — curious and restless; he asks endless 'why' questions and is honest that he stopped listening to the aunt's story.
• The bigger girl — bold and thoughtful; she asks the logical question and gives firm opinions.
• Bertha — very good, but she keeps reminding herself how good she is; her pride in her medals leads to her death.

4. Irony and the 'story within a story'

• Frame story: the train journey is the outer story; Bertha's tale is the inner story.
• Irony 1: the medals meant to reward goodness are what give Bertha away.
• Irony 2: Bertha's goodness brings her into the park — and into danger.
• Irony 3: the aunt calls the story improper, yet it achieves what hers could not: it keeps the children quiet.
• Humour: the bachelor imagines someone made a bet with the girl that she could not repeat her line two thousand times.

5. Language: reporting verbs and prefixes

• Verbs used instead of 'said': exclaimed, added, asked, protested, suggested, persisted, demanded, admitted, quoted, continued, resumed, observed.
• Words with 'un-': unsympathetic, unenterprising, uninteresting, unexpected, unhappy — opposites: sympathetic, enterprising, interesting, expected, happy.
• A colon introduces what follows, e.g. Bertha 'thought to herself:' before her thoughts.
• A semicolon joins two closely linked clauses, e.g. '…to flicker; all stories…'.

Words and phrases to know

Key terms

The Storyteller – Flashcards

Read the question, answer it in your head, then tap the card to check. 20 cards.

The Storyteller – MCQ Quiz

15 questions. Tap an option — you will see at once if it is right and why.

How to study The Storyteller

⏱ About 30 minutes

1. Read (12 min)
   Read both parts, noticing how the aunt's story and the bachelor's story are different.
2. Learn (10 min)
   Learn the characters, Bertha's three medals, the irony of her end and the reporting verbs.
3. Practise (8 min)
   Answer the 'Try it yourself' questions, take the quiz and play 🎮 Play.